Blockbuster IT Acquisitions of 2011

Ericka Chickowski

HP Buys Autonomy

The acquisition of British company Autonomy is just one of the surprising moves that got former HP CEO Leo Apotheker run out on a rail last September. HP paid an unbelievable $12 billion dollars for the "Meaning Based Computer" leader, infuriating shareholders and putting smirks on the faces of tech analysts everywhere.

Every large, established company in the IT marketplace knows that it is time to get in the cloud or die trying. That means it's also time for the big fish to gobble up the small, or the old guys to snap up the startups. With competition heating up, the amount of money it takes to get hold of these innovators has pushed past the clouds, well into the stratosphere. Some acquisitions were steals, others, career-enders. In the end, the big players all dipped deep in their wallets this year with the hope of being the best positioned for the year ahead. Here's a look at the blockbuster deals of 2011